Thankful - Day #13

Photo by Lisa Conrad Photography

When we were planning our wedding, we knew that we wanted it to be small. We are both blessed with loving family and wonderfully kind friends, but the choosing of our wedding party was probably the easiest decision we made concerning our wedding. We are beyond thankful for our best friends who stand beside us day in and day out and who stood beside us as we made our solemn promises to one another. 

Today we are thankful for Mike and Lauren, our besties of honor.

Dearest Lauren, 

You are my constant. You are my person. You are the one that I have to call when times are tough or when the funniest thing just happened. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your willingness to laugh or cry beside me. Thank you for being the only person that mailed me packages when I was in South Korea. Thank you for being by my side through years of ups and downs. Thank you for always having my back. Thank you for farting in the middle of New Mexico to declare our "bestiness." Thank you for being my ezer. I love you!

- Melissa

Whether it's an afternoon in Central Park...

or a surprise soccer game...

or waiting in line for our first iPhones...

this girl is my girl!
Photo by Lisa Conrad Photography

Dear Mike,

Thank you for being my best friend and my best man. You have stuck by me no matter what I do or say. I am very thankful we can go a long time without talking and just pick up right where we left off. Thank you for always being ready for an adventure. Thank you for always being willing to help first and offer questions or criticisms later. Thank you for setting an example by being a devoted husband to Lisa and a wonderful dad to Briana and Nolan. I am thankful for your friendship and I love you brother.

- Chris

Las Vegas

  

Kissing face...

Licking face...

  Today we are thankful for our people. 

Photo by Lisa Conrad Photography

Thankful - Day #12

Today we are thankful to veterans the world over. Thank you to the men and women who stand in courage and bravery to protect us. Thank you to the families who remain home and sacrifice so much.

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die."
G.K. Chesterton

Photo by Lauren Natalie Photography

Thankful - Day #11

Today we are thankful for one year of marriage!

by Lauren Natalie Photography

Dear Christopher,
I am thankful for a partner in this life who is forever patient, intensely kind, and outrageously generous. You make me laugh each and every day... and that's HOT! I am empowered by your confidence in me. I am humbled by your adoration of me. I am desperately in love with you. I watch you with the dogs and I see the most gentle of spirits within you. I cannot wait to parent alongside you. Thank you for this year and thank you for this life. Thank you for loving me so sweetly. You, my honey, are my very favorite thing. I love you forever.
- Melissa

Dear Melissa,
I am thankful for your smile, which greets me everyday when I get home. I am thankful for your kind heart, reminding me always how wonderful our life is. Your desire to help everyone you can anyway you can inspires me. I am thankful for your independence. I am thankful to have a partner in all that I do, someone there to help me and challenge me to be the best person I can be. The past year has been better than I could ever have imagined, and I look forward to many, many more. I love you.
-Chris

Thankful - Day #10

Today we are thankful for the blessing of living in San Diego, California.

We are thankful to be a short drive away from the mountains, the desert, and the ocean.

We are thankful for coastal drives.

We are thankful to be close enough to Mexico for delightful weekend getaways.

Thankful - Day #9

We are thankful for jobs that pay the billzzz

and dog sitters with mad skillzzz!

Today is payday and that means that we are ever so thankful for jobs that we enjoy and that allow us to live comfortably.

Today is also the day that we leave for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary, so we are VERY THANKFUL for dog sitters with mad skills - Petra and Pierce.

Pierce is basically Rico's best friend.

Chris and I dressed up as Petra and Pierce for Halloween...

See the above picture... we basically nailed it!

Thank you for taking care of our boys this weekend!!!!

Thankful - Day #8

Romance is an adventure on top of the Empire State Building.

Romance is celebrating the love of dear ones at a wedding.

Romance is bringing home flowers.

Romance is a quick lunch in the park in the middle of errands.

Romance is baking bread from scratch. 

Romance is surprising your wife with falafel and a dog park adventure.

We are thankful for romance in all of its forms: 

Melissa is thankful for an empty dishwasher when she wakes up. 

Chris is thankful for Star Wars lunch-boxes packed with love. 

Melissa is thankful for surprise food deliveries in the middle of the day. 

Chris is thankful for Melissa's visits to the office for an afternoon kiss.

Thankful - Day #7

Today we are thankful that this will be our first couple for four more years.

We are thankful that our nieces and nephews will see more people in our government who look like them.

We are thankful that marriage equality continues to move forward.

(Photo: Connie Kopelov, 84 (R) and her wife Phyllis Siegel, 76, hold up a marriage certificate and celebrate as they exit the Manhattan City Clerks office after getting married July 24, 2011 in New York City. By Daniel Barry/Getty Images.)

A personal note from Melissa:
I remember four years ago being overjoyed at Barack Obama's election and in the same moment being sad that my home state of California had voted against marriage equality. This time, four years later, I see progress and continue to long for more. I'm thankful to the voters in Maine, Maryland, and Washington. As I look towards the future and raising human beings, I am hopeful that they will live in a country that affords them the right to marry and to build a life with whomever they love.

I have made an evolution, much like the President, over time on this issue. I blindly believed what others said and used phrases like "Love the sinner, but hate the sin." Guess what? I was wrong. Each person deserves to be treated with dignity and equality under the law of this land. My dear ones who love someone of the same sex love them no less, no more, no better, and no worse than I do. If I love my friends, don't I want them to be able to visit their spouse in the hospital? Don't I want them to be able to sign the same contracts that Chris and I can? Don't I want them to be able to make decisions about the children that they lovingly raise?

My life experience tells me that a biological relationship does not define a parent's love. I love my biological sisters with the same love that I love my adopted sisters with. I hate even calling them adopted, because people don't always get that all four of my sisters are my REAL sisters. I know that because of my parents' love and commitment to us, they deserved to be a part of the decisions that shaped our lives. I watch my friends raising children with the same love and commitment that my parents have, but they live their lives in fear that depending on which state they are visiting, or the personal views of some hospital administrator, one of them could be excluded from participating in their own child's medical or personal decisions. They may not even be allowed in the hospital room to comfort their family. I don't see separating parents from their children as a family value that reflects anything but ignorance. I don't see any negative that can come from all people being able to make a public and legal commitment to love a person for the rest of their loves and to build a family together.